Hello, I am an international student. I came to the US to build something like 'the internet' or be part of some highly impactful technology. I will be graduating in May 2022 in Computer Science. I genuinely believe that A.I can change how we live and most importantly I am excited about the future. I have been interested in using tech to solve real-world problems and since high school, have tried to work on different real-world problems. I don't aspire to be an entrepreneur as I don't like the business stuff (numbers and everything) but I am good with aligning business sense with technology. I don't believe in being a product manager/program manager as I think without actually cooking, you can't lead a restaurant (I might be wrong but I have seen this) I am not a great engineer but I think my biggest strength is to find creative ways to use A. I algorithms to solve real-world problems. For a glimpse of some of the problems that I solved: 1. Built a recommendation engine for dining commons so that students don't overeat (had 5K hits and advertised the app in the dining halls by placing a QR code on the table) 2. Built a tool that used NLP to find the best professors for a class and a lot more similar projects. (Used this a lot myself) For these last few weeks, I have been extremely confused. Following are some of the reasons: 1. I see my friends going to MANGA (btw these friends barely passed in all the classes and most of them cheated their way through the interviews; I know we have to do anything to get a job because apart from knowledge, a job can help in others things (financial matters, independence, etc) 2. I have a few interviews lined up and I know that if I grind enough, I would be able to get a MANGA job but I know that after a few months, I would feel completely out of place and would feel as if I am wasting my life (I had experienced this when I was interning for a big company for a year and saw that I was never the boss of myself and all I did was make my bosses happy and in turn, my boss made their boss happy and so on. It was as if like my boss earned 100, my manager took 30 and I was given 10) 3. I have a full-time offer that does not pay much but I can decide on my projects as I am the only Data Scientist in a small R&D lab. While I can decide the projects, I still have my manager and their bosses, etc. Also, the company does not sponsor H1B. 4. I might have a position as a research fellow at an A.I lab at NIH. It is quite novel and I think this is as close to "the internet" but it does not pay much. I see my friends going to MANGA and I might have a fear of missing out (Pay, bay area life, etc) While my friends and families advise me on the traditional route, I find it extremely difficult to be myself. Also, there may be an uncertainty in the market and I may be completely wrong but in my heart. I would really appreciate some guidance or past experiences. Thanks TLDR (Used an online summarizer tool but if you like this then would recommend reading the complete post to get better perspective) I genuinely believe that A.I. can change how we live and most importantly I am excited about the future. I don't aspire to be an entrepreneur but I am good at aligning business sense with technology. My biggest strength is to find creative ways to use A. I to solve real-world problems. I would really appreciate some guidance or past experiences. I see my friends going to MANGA and I might have a fear of missing out (Pay, bay area life, etc)While my friends and families advise me on the traditional route, I find it extremely difficult to be myself. #tech #artificialintelligence #engineering #manga #fang #software
Succinctly, what is your concrete question?
Any guidance based on past experiences? Anything that you would recommend or not recommend based on your experiences and your peers. Thanks
Still dont know what is the question???
There is a reason why older people advise on certain ways. Besides green card will be a problem for you. Go to big companies and build some experience.
Yes. they are correct too in some way but I genuinely believe there is too much to discover and most importantly build now. Specifically, I believe A.I applied to healthcare can help us solve most of the problems we see now. While I am extremely passionate about this, I feel alone in this endeavor as my friends/family do not support me or think like me. Thanks for guiding and giving comments.
Do phd
5 years of commitment with low pay is not something I would like. I always try to highlight the practical value of work and academic ignores that a lot (It is just a race to get a high number of citations). Imagine a cross between an entrepreneur and a researcher. Thanks for guiding and giving comments.
You kido has no idea what you’re talking about. Academia works closely with industry (I did) and sometimes research prototype is pushed to products (I did). You can’t make high $$$ while doing what you like but others disagree. You do what you’re told and that’s why you get paid a lot. Tradeoff is a key to success in life. Make sure to choose your own metrics in satisfaction. I did phd in distributed systems and have less than 100 citations (but top tier papers dugh). My research prototype is adapted by M. Another great example is YOLO object detection. It’s widely used in industry but developed by a phd dude in UW. Therefore, your comments about academic ignoring practical values don’t hold. At least in CS discipline, academia works closely with industry. Feel free to DM me if you want to chat.
This is exactly- too many chefs spoil the dish kinda situation. 1. You’ve completed your masters i’m assuming - you’re at an age of figuring out stuff for yourself. If not, something is terribly wrong. 2. You say you can do a lot of things and all that stuff - find a plan A then work on plan B. You are so confident on cracking thru the interviews, do it first before talking. Just looking around at all the options is just going kill your OPT time.
1. Bachelors 2. I don't know if I will pass the interviews but I am certain that if I pass the interviews and join MANGA type companies, I would want to leave in a few months but I would not be able to because of being too comfortable (In a way, the fire that I have right now would wear off because I have seen my managers who are extremely intelligent and efficient that they just don't want to try something new tech or new product (Not the case for all the companies I believe) but being too comfortable is something that I have seen a lot! I know that if I become too comfortable then it would be extremely difficult to leave or try something new. Thanks for guiding and giving comments.
You seem to be a person who would enjoy Ph.D. Talk to a few professors in your university. A Ph.D. might give you intellectual satisfaction. Now, any technology that you help build will be used for dumb reasons, e.g., Youtube is a great tech, but used for mostly dumb reasons.
5 years of commitment with low pay is not something I would like. I always try to highlight the practical value of work and academic ignores that a lot (It is just a race to get a high number of citations). Imagine a cross between an entrepreneur and a researcher. Thanks for guiding and giving comments.
Recommend finding a good mentor to guide you.
Yes but mentors are divided in academia and industry. The academia people do not think about money as a driver and most of the research in academia is not applicable in the real world. The industry people only think about money (Some of them think about work but then there is politics also involved and keeping someone else happy). Not to be disrespectful but All work at Meta is ultimately bringing Zuck's dreams come true. Thanks for guiding and giving comments.
What is important for you? immigration status or money or passion or impact of work. Choose wisely, not all of them come together.
Everything. I believe everything is possible. Passionate work in the right sector would definitely yield an impact that would in turn lead to money and then probably (hopefully), would lead me to get a green card in EB1 (EB2 and EB3 not for me as I am Indian)
What is your short term goal? Everything come eventually.
ur tldr needs a tldr
Sorry. used a summarizer. Will reedit it to show key sentences. Thanks
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I would say go for option 4. Being outside, you wouldn’t know if that job is going to give you satisfaction or if it’s time to hunt for money. Once you figure it out, you could align your priorities.
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